Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Today, September 29, 2015, marks the 10th Anniversary of the Appointment of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Caitlin Graf,
VP, Communications, The Nation Magazine, has sent out the following
newsletter message, and we pass it on here in full noting that the
Nation has published a special issue that deals with the performance of
the United States Supreme Court over the last decade.

Why the spotlight? The lead up to the 2016 election marks a cardinal moment for justice in America: with four Supreme Court justices in or entering their 80s during this term, the next president will have the power to define the course of the Court for future generations.

Bringing together ten of the foremost legal scholars, commentators, and practitioners in the US, the collection offers a chronological assessment of the most consequential and controversial conservative decisions -- one per year -- issued by the Court.

"The result," write Nan Aron and Kyle C. Barry in their introduction, "is a wide-angle portrait that thoroughly debunks the myth of Roberts as unbiased umpire. Rather than provide 'equal justice under law,' Roberts has led a narrow conservative majority that consistently favors the privileged and powerful (especially corporations) at the expense of everyone else (especially women, workers, consumers, people of color, and the accused)."

Ultimately, this unrelenting conservatism of the Roberts Court is evident across three sweeping arenas.

1. An abiding suspicion of race-conscious efforts to ameliorate discrimination:

Yet with the dissenting opinion, Nation legal affairs correspondent David Coleopts for a silver lining, writing: "Given the lopsided Republican advantage in appointments over the last half-century, it's not surprising that the Court has reached many conservative results. The surprise, rather, is that the Court has also issued a significant number of liberal decisions in recent decades. . . . On this closely divided Court, outcomes are determined not by the most extreme but by the most centrist justice.
Convention dictates that we call it the Roberts Court, but in truth
this is the Kennedy Court. And Kennedy has voted with the liberals on
issues of speech, sexuality, the death penalty, and the rights of enemy
combatants, while siding with the conservatives on issues of racial
discrimination, federal power, and access to courts."

Full contents of the special issue are listed and linked below; select contributors available for interview.

Glossip v. Gross (2015):
Following a controversial ruling over lethal injections, Justice Breyer
suggested that capital punishment may violate the 8th Amendment. It's
time to bring that case to court.

ABOUT THE NATION

Founded in 1865 and currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, The Nation is
America's oldest weekly magazine, serving as a critical, independent
voice in American journalism and a platform for investigative reporting
and spirited debate on issues of import to the progressive
community. Through changing times and fashions, The Nation and
TheNation.com offer consistently informed and inspired reporting and
analysis of breaking news, politics, social issues and the arts-never
faltering in our editorial commitment to what Nation Publisher
Emeritus Victor Navasky has called "a dissenting, independent,
trouble-making, idea-launching journal of critical opinion."

ABOUT ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE (AFJ)

Alliance
for Justice believes that all Americans have the right to secure
justice in the courts and to have their voices heard when government
makes decisions that affect their lives. We are a national association
of over 100 organizations, representing a broad array of groups
committed to progressive values and the creation of an equitable, just,
and free society.

AFJ
works to ensure that the federal judiciary advances core constitutional
values, preserves human rights and unfettered access to the courts, and
adheres to the even-handed administration of justice for all Americans.
It is the leading expert on the legal framework for nonprofit advocacy
efforts, providing definitive information, resources, and technical
assistance that encourages organizations and their funding partners to
fully exercise their right to be active participants in the democratic
process.

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